When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:33,34)
Had we been in that situation, beaten and battered as Jesus was, we would have found the strength to utter some memorable words. They would have been words of power. They probably would have been words that blistered the ears of anyone who heard them. One thing they wouldn’t have been is the word of forgiveness Jesus spoke.
Forgiveness isn’t something that comes easily to us, and when the other person is in no way deserving of our forgiveness, then it usually doesn’t come at all. A combination of anger and the twisted notion that forgiveness is something an individual must earn from us results in an iciness toward the person or in words of unforgiveness spoken in the heat of the moment. Yet Jesus speaks a word of forgiveness!
Maybe some of the Jewish leaders didn’t fully realize they were putting the very Son of God to death. Maybe they didn’t entirely understand what they were doing, but they understood enough to know that what they had done was wrong.
Even if they understood none of this, Jesus was not suggesting that no forgiveness would be necessary. As they say, ignorance of the law is no excuse—and as many who have been pulled over for speeding can attest, not realizing that you were doing something wrong doesn’t free you from having to pay the price.
Don’t misunderstand Jesus when he says, “They do not know what they are doing.” The Jewish leaders surely understood that they had condemned a man who didn’t deserve to die. They understood that they had trampled on the very basic concept of justice. Even the Roman soldiers who drove the nails into his hands and feet may well have known that the man they were crucifying had done nothing more offensive than made some (apparently) laughable claims to be a king—he didn’t actually deserve to be put to death.
No, Jesus’ words here do not suggest that those who put him to death aren’t guilty. In fact, his words very clearly suggest that they are guilty. Otherwise, Jesus wouldn’t have spoken of forgiveness. Jesus asks God here to delay his justice, to not immediately hold them accountable but to give them more time to come to a recognition of their sin and also, by the working of the Holy Spirit, to faith.
A little over seven weeks later, on Pentecost, Jesus’ prayer was answered, as perhaps some of these same people finally realized what they had done. The book of Acts tells us that they were “cut to the heart” (2:37) when they recognized their sin in putting Jesus to death. When they asked Peter what they should do, he told them to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. They did, and they received forgiveness from their Father.
Does this word of forgiveness extend also to us, who so often know exactly what we are doing when we sin? Clearly it does, because when we were born, God did not bring immediate judgment upon us for the sin with which we were born. Nor did he merely delay judgment, but he actually answered Jesus’ prayer by bringing us to faith in Jesus. In Jesus we have the forgiveness he first requested for us on the cross—a forgiveness he was about to win for us.
